JPS5918249B2 - packaging equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing articles, and more particularly to packaging a plurality of articles in the form of strips of material, which are then cut and placed on a conveyor device. It further relates to a method and apparatus adapted for insertion into a container such as a box.

It has recently become commonplace in restaurants to provide sugar, salt, and condiments such as Mug 1-Start and ketchup to customers in separate bags.

For packaging granules such as sugar and salt, or pastes or liquids such as mustard and ketchup, a strip of paper or packaging material is folded into a trough and the material is placed inside the strip of material thus folded. It has been proposed to use a machine adapted to form a separate bag, pass the strip of material through a filling device, receive the contents through its open edge, and seal it. The filled bag is sealed and cut from the strip of material and placed in a container, such as a carton, for transportation. This type of packaging machine and process was published in the Char
lesE. U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,576 to ClOud et al. and June 6, 1972, Benner, J.
r. Other U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,188. In order to improve the handling of individually cut bags, a cutting wheel cooperating with an indexing wheel may be used to move the bag strip along an arcuate path and cut the bags sequentially from the strip. Proposed.

Various devices including vacuum heads have been suggested for controlling the movement of the cut bag. An example of such a device is given by Charles E., August 10, 1971. ClOu
d in US Pat. No. 3,597,898. Such bags are usually sold by packing a desired number of bags into a carton, for example 2000 bags.

This type of packaging is very simple, as is well known. However, cartons containing fewer bags may be desired, for example, 100-200 bags per carton. Such small units are particularly useful in restaurants, where they are convenient and effective, for example when trying to perform inventory control or when waitresses are trying to replenish the bags in the containers on each table. It is. There are several ways to pack a small number of bags into a carton.

The simplest method is to manually pack the bags into cartons, in which the worker places the bags in groups of 5 and 4, so that all 100 or 200 bags are packed. A completely opposite method is to use an automatic machine of the type described in U.S. Pat. Counted and packed into cartons.

However, the former manual method has the problem of slow work speed and low work efficiency, while the latter method involves dynamically loading bags into cartons, which improves work speed and effectiveness. The automatic machinery used requires a relatively complex structure, is expensive, and has disadvantages in terms of economics.

The present invention is intermediate between these two different methods and aims to provide an apparatus for filling containers with items such as individually filled bags with minimal effort.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an index wheel having an outer periphery, a conveyor device disposed below the index wheel, the index wheel rotating in a circular path, and a conveyor device arranged around the outer periphery of the index wheel. a device for moving at right angles to the passage; a first group of suction heads spaced circumferentially on an index wheel and carried in the circular passage by the index wheel;
a second group of suction heads spaced circumferentially on the index wheel between the first group of suction heads and carried in a circular path by the index wheel; a device for moving the bag into contact with the suction head; first and second index wheels for causing each suction head to grip the bag as the index wheel moves the suction head from the point of contact with the bag through the arcuate portion of the circular passage; Apparatus for evacuating each suction head of the group and applying pressure greater than atmospheric to each suction so as to discharge the bags onto the conveyor apparatus when the suction head on the index wheel is positioned on the conveyor apparatus. The first group of suction heads is conveyed by the index wheel through an arcuate section of a circular passage shorter than the second group of suction heads before applying a pressure above atmospheric pressure by this release device. The bags conveyed by the suction heads of the group are first discharged onto the conveyor device to form a first row of bags, and then the bags conveyed by the suction heads of the second group are discharged onto the conveyor device. Pressure above atmospheric pressure is applied first to the suction heads of the first group and then to the second group at regular intervals such that the side edges of the bags overlap the side edges of the bags of the first row to form a second row of bags. and a release device arranged to add to the group suction head. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, an indexing wheel with blades and a cutting wheel also with blades are used, with a suction head disposed above the indexing wheel between these blades.

The indexing wheel is equipped with a device for creating a vacuum on the suction head and applying positive pressure to the suction head when it reaches different positions in its travel path, thereby causing the gripped bag to lead to each bag. a device which is placed in rows on said conveyor device so that the edges overlap the trailing edges of the preceding bags in a shingle-like relationship, and the edges of one row overlap the edges of another row; have. The conveyor device maintains the overlapping relationship of the adjacent rows as much as possible,
It has a device for reversing the direction of the shingled items in these two rows. The conveyor device is adapted to convey a row of bags arranged in a shingle-like manner to a chute with their orientation reversed, thereby facilitating the loading of this row into a container. That is, in order to improve the loading condition of the items in the container, in this embodiment, the items are placed in two rows, the edges of the items overlap, and the items in each row are arranged in a shingle shape. Apparatus is used to arrange and subsequently invert this shingle arrangement to facilitate loading of the item into a container such as a box. The articles are preferably received as a strip of individually filled bags, moved in an arcuate path on an indexing wheel, and cut into separate bags by a cutting wheel. The bag ejection operation is performed by applying positive pressure to the suction head so that the bag is positively ejected from the suction head. The conveyor moves under the index wheels at right angles to the path of the wheels. In order to form two rows on the conveyor device, a positive pressure, i.e. a pressure above atmospheric pressure, is applied to the alternate suction heads at different points of the travel path for said suction heads, thereby substantially The two bags are arranged to fall side by side. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The principles of the present invention are particularly useful for an apparatus 10 (FIG. 1) for cutting items from a strip of material and depositing the items in a container or box.

Although the apparatus of the present invention can be used to process articles in the form of strips, it is shown as being installed at the end of a packaging machine, generally indicated by 11 (FIG. 1). There is. The packaging machine 11 has a horizontal foundation 12 that supports various members.

A roll stand 13 mounted close to the foundation 12
The device is for supporting a roll 14 of packaging material. This roll 14 is supported on a mandrel 15,
When the strip of material 14a is unwound from the roll, it is arranged in a vertical plane and is transformed onto the foundation 12 into a horizontal plane. The strip of material 14a may be of any suitable type and may be paper coated on one side with a sealable material such as plastic or other suitable adhesive. The strip of material can be preprinted or a printing device 16 can be provided downstream of the roll 14 as shown in FIG.

The strip of material 14a is engaged downstream of the printing device 16 with a suitable plow 17, which plow is supported on a plow bracket 18 on the base 12. The plow 17 folds the material strip 14a so that the fold is located at the bottom of the material strip and the material strip has a V-shaped cross section. In order for the strip material 14a to be able to form a filled package, it is fed through guide rollers 19, 19 to a vertical sealer 20, which when the drum of this sealer rotates in the direction of the arrow, the strip material is removed. ) The material is caused to move along an arcuate path.

The strip material coming out of the sealing machine 20 is moved to an adjustable idler roller 2.
1. It passes over a fixed floating roller 22 and a pair of drive rollers 23. As shown, the sealer 20 has vertical ridges 20a which are heated 5 by a suitable device and are spaced apart from the strips of material 14 at predetermined intervals determined by the spacing of these ridges.
is adapted to form a sealing portion extending vertically or laterally across a. A pressure roller 24 cooperates with the ridge to ensure that the seal is made
The sealing portion is formed by applying sufficient pressure. As the material strip moves toward roller 21, a series of pockets or bags are formed in the material strip, the edges or sides of which are defined by the transverse seals and the bottom fold. After leaving one drive roller 23 , the bag-formed strip passes through an idler roller 25 to a filling station 26 . This filling station is equipped with a device for opening the pocket and charging each bag with a predetermined amount of material, such as sugar. After leaving the filling station 26, the strip of material loaded into the bag passes through a top sealing machine 27. This top sealer closes the filled bag by sealing the remaining open sides, forming a strip of material with bags 29 separated by transverse sealing portions 30. The strip of material 28 leaving the sealer 27 passes through a drive 31 and then enters the apparatus 10 of the invention. A detailed description of the operation and construction of the filling station 26 is provided in the ClOud et al. Patent No. 3,344,576. Although the filling station has been described as filling the bag with a dry ingredient such as salt or sugar, the device shown at 26 may be replaced by any suitable device for filling the bag with a liquid such as ketchup or mustard. An example of such a device is Benner, . Jr. Further details are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,188. When the filled bag leaves the drive device 31 consisting of a capstan and a pressure roller, it has a transverse sealing part 30, the top sealing part being closed together with the bottom by the fold formed by the plow 17. There is.

If the package is to be sealed on all four sides, a bottom sealer 32 with a conventional heated head can be used to form the seal along the fold line. As shown in the figure, this bottom sealing machine 32 has a vertical sealing machine 2 where the strip material is
It can be placed in the passage before reaching 0 or in the next position of the vertical sealer. Although the above description relates to an apparatus adapted to fold a single sheet to form a bag, bags formed by sealing two sheets may also be used. The strip of material 28 is moved in a vertical plane substantially perpendicular to this figure as seen in FIG. become accepted.

This apparatus 10 has a cutting device, generally indicated by 33, which cuts bags 29 one after another from a strip of material and transports the cut bags 29 onto a conveyor device, generally indicated by 34. It is designed to be placed on top.

A conveyor device 34 transports the cut bags to a chute 35. The cutting device 33 has an index wheel 36 and a cutting wheel 37, both of which are connected to an upright frame member 38.
, 39, and is rotatably supported within a frame.

The index wheel 36 (FIG. 2) has a core 40;
An inner diameter for receiving the drive shaft 41 is formed in the core. The key 42 is a direct connection member for rotating the core 40 together with the shaft 41. Drive shaft 41 (third
) is rotatably supported in ordinary bearings 43 and 44,
These bearings are further supported on frame members 38, 39, respectively. The cutting wheel 37 (FIG. 2) has a core 45 that supports a plurality of cutting rods or blades 46 spaced about the circumference of the wheel 37.

An axial hole is formed in the core 45, which loosely receives the drive shaft 47, and a vertical piece 4 extending in the axial direction.
It has 8. The shaft 47 rigidly supports a spring clutch device 49, which has a spring 50 and which is attached to the hanging piece 4.
8 to flexibly connect the shaft 47 to the wheel 37. Each of the shafts 47 has l pairs of bearings 51, 5.
2 (FIG. 1) on upright members 38, 39. In order to rotate the indexing wheel 36 and the cutting wheel 37 with the required speed relationship, the shaft 4
1 has a drive gear 53 that engages a drive gear 54 keyed to the shaft 47.

The shaft 41 has a drive including a chain 55, said chain being connected to the machine 1.
1 to a main 1 drive (not shown). By connecting the chain 55 to the drive of the machine 11, the rotation of the indexing wheel and the cutting wheel is controlled by the drive of the machine 11.
The rotation of the various members of the tape is synchronized and the speed of advancement of the tape through the machine 11 and the device 10 is the same. Index wheel 36 (FIG. 2) has a plurality of blades 60 circumferentially spaced around a core 40.

A guide member 61 is attached to each blade 60, and the member is attached to the recess 6.
1a (FIG. 7), and the belt-like member 28 of the bag 29 is cut into a blade 60.
It is designed to maintain the required position on the top. The index wheel 36 also has a plurality of suction heads 62, which are arranged between the circumferentially spaced blades 60 and the core 4.
Spaced around 0. Each suction head 62 comprises a flexible member 63, which is made of rubber or a suitable flexible plastic and has a tip-shaped portion 63a partially removed at the edge.

The member 63 is telescopically received on a fixture 64 (FIG. 7). For mounting the suction head 62 on the core 40, the core has a plurality of radially extending holes 65,
66, and each of these passageways is adapted to be threadedly engaged with a fitting 64 of each suction head 62. As is clear from FIGS. 2 and 7, the core 40 has a plurality of axially extending passages 67 which are arranged circumferentially on a circle having a predetermined radius on the core. They are spaced apart and communicate with the hole 65. A plurality of passages 68 are provided within the core 40 and extend axially and communicate with the holes 66;
and the passages are circumferentially spaced on a circle having a radius smaller than the radius of the circle formed by said passage 67. Therefore, the effective radial depth of the hole 65 is the hole 66
is smaller than the radial depth of Each suction head 62a whose fitting 64 is threaded into one of the holes 65 forms one group of suction heads, and each remaining suction head 62b whose fitting is threaded into a radial hole 66 forms a second group. is forming. As shown in FIG. 2, the suction heads 62a and 62b have a core 40
are alternately spaced around the As shown in FIG. 7, axially extending passageways 67, 68 extend from their corresponding radial holes 65, 66 to a side surface 70 of core 40. An annular plate member 71 is stacked on this side surface 70,
The plate member is attached to the core 40 by suitable means, such as a fastening screw 72, for rotation therewith. The plate 71 is provided with passages 73 and 74. When this plate 71 is attached to the core 40, the plate and the core 40 have a sealed relationship, and the passage 73,
74 is aligned with passages 67 and 68, which are brought into communication with surface 75. When the core-40 rotates, the passages 67, 68 in the selected arc of movement of the corresponding passage.
Apparatus is provided for selectively coupling the to a vacuum source.

Similarly, at selected points of movement of each suction head 62,
Alternatively, a positive air pressure (above atmospheric pressure) acts on selected portions of the movement of the suction head 62 through the passages 67, 68. A manifold plate or shoe is used in these two systems and is supported on a mounting plate 78 which is adjustably mounted to plate 79.

The plate 79 is rigidly connected to the upright frame member 38 by suitable means such as bolts 80. An adjustable mounting system comprising a fastening member 81 extending through an elongated slot 82 in plate 79 allows for adjustable annular positioning of the shoe relative to frame member 38. can. As shown in FIG.
The surface 84 of the shoe 84 comes into sealing engagement with the surface 75. Said surface 84 has a recess 85 which communicates through a radial hole 86 with a hose 87 which is connected to a source of negative pressure or vacuum (not shown). Similarly, recess 88 (Fig. 2)
is a hose 90 having a fitting by means of a radial hole 89.
The hose further extends to a source of positive pressure, such as positive air pressure. Said recess 85 is shaped to communicate with each suction head 62a, 62b through passages 67, 68 so as to cause each suction head to undergo a selected or predetermined arcuate movement as index wheel 36 rotates. It's summery. Similarly, the recesses 88 are shaped so as to communicate with each suction head 62a when a portion of the movement is performed;
When the wheel 36 rotates, it communicates with each suction head 62b when it reaches a predetermined point. The cutting device 33 still has a guide or tension roller 91 which is rotatably supported on a pair of levers 92 which are mounted on the upright frame members 38,39.

Roller 91 is adapted to receive a horizontally disposed bag strip 28 and to facilitate positioning of the strip relative to index wheel 36. The strip of material 28 is received on the blade 60 and in the notch 61 of each guide member 61.
a is located above each blade 60 together with the lateral sealing portion 30. Each bag 29 is moved to the suction head 62 on which it rests.
The cutting device 33 has a hold-down strip 94 in order to ensure a firm engagement with the cutting device 33 .

This holding strip 94 has a support 95 at one end.
It is anchored to the frame member 39 by an adjustable spring device 96, and is supported at the other end by an adjustable spring device 96. This spring device 96 is also supported on one of the frame members. This adjustable spring arrangement 96 causes the strip 94 to assume the curvature of an arcuate path around the index wheel 36. The bag 29 is held at a point 97 by the pressing strip 94.
The suction head 62 is driven into engagement with the suction head 62 as it moves through the suction head 62 . The hold-down strip serves to sealingly engage each bag 29 with a flexible member 63 of the suction head, the flexible member of the suction head having a concave shape as described above and its leading edge. A part of the area close to the area has been removed. Once each bag 29 reaches a point within the arcuate passageway proximate the adjustable spring device 96, the bag and its contents will fit into the strip 94 and will come into convenient engagement with the suction head therebelow. If each lateral sealing portion 30 between the bags 29 is moved from a position proximate said adjustable spring device 96 to a position 98, the blades 46 of the cutting wheel 37
moves into position to cooperate with the blade 60 and begins cutting the bag in front of it from the strip of material.

The cutting ends when sealing portion 30 reaches position 98. Each blade 46 is preferably slightly twisted and positioned with a small pitch relative to the axis of shaft 47. Spring clutch device 49 is adapted to flex sufficiently as blade 46 begins to engage blade 60 to prevent binding and to compensate for the different circular paths of blades 46,60. When the bag reaches the bag position 29a of FIG. 2, the previous bag 29b is completely severed from the strip of material 28.

However, because of the recess 85 in the suction device, the bag 29b is retained on the suction head 62a and moved further into the arcuate path of the index wheel. In the preferred embodiment, the shape of the recess 85 is such that suction is applied through the head 62 and the bag reaches position 29a when its leading lateral sealing portion 30 is severed and the previous bag completely removed from the strip of material 28. It is designed to be held in the position in which it is to be separated. Further movement of the wheel causes the other bag 29 to reach position 29a, and as it moves into this position the blades of the cutting wheel cooperate with the blades of the indexing wheel to create a lateral link connecting said bag to the previous bag. Cutting begins at the sealed portion 30. In order to ensure that the bag held by the suction force of the suction head 62 can be released and ejected, a device is provided for applying air pressure, when said bag reaches the desired displacement position. The bag is surely ejected from the suction port 62.

In the index wheel of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the bags 29 are placed at two different positions on the conveyor system 34 to form two rows 101, 102. To place bags in two different rows,
One group of suction heads 62b must move along a larger arcuate path than the other group of heads 62a. Therefore, it is necessary to apply positive pressure to the suction head 62a after the suction head 62b has moved an arcuate travel distance that is less than the arcuate travel distance O relative to the suction head 62b. As shown, the recess 88 of the pressure device is configured to apply positive pressure at an earlier position relative to the suction head 62a than against the suction head 62b. 5. The recess 85 is the head 6.
2b is configured to maintain suction over a greater arcuate path of travel than for head 62a, and when applying positive pressure to eject the bag from suction head 62a as shown. Suction force is still applied to the head 62b.

Although the bag cutting device can be used to place the cut bags onto any material handling device, it is preferably used in conjunction with conveyor device 34.

Conveyor system 34 is positioned below index wheel 36 to receive bags placed thereon as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and extends axially toward chute 35. The conveyor system 34 has at least one pair of upright frame members 110, 111, which are supported on the foundation 12 of the machine 11. Inside the frame are a pair of rollers 114,1 with a plurality of belts 116.
15 (FIG. 5) and a pair of rollers 118, 119 with a plurality of belts 120.
A second conveyor section 117 consisting of The rollers of the first and second conveyor sections 113, 117 are connected to the frame member 110 by means of suitable bearings 121 (FIG. 2).
111 and is rotatably supported within the second portion 117 (third portion).
The rollers 118 (Figs. 1 and 5) are disposed between the pair of rollers 114, 115 of the first conveyor section so that the articles conveyed by said two conveyor sections are transferred from the first section to the second section. is adapted to engage both conveyors at the point where the conveyor is connected. To drive each conveyor section 113, 117, the rollers 114 are connected to a right angle gear box 122, which has a sprocket 123 connected by a chain to a sprocket 124 on the shaft 47 to the cutting wheel 37. ing.

The belt 116 drives the roller 115 of the first section 113 and has a sprocket 127 which is connected by a chain to a sprocket 128 mounted on the shaft of the roller 119 which connects the second section 117. is adapted to be driven by the first part. As shown in FIG. 3, sprocket 127 is smaller than sprocket 128 so that second section 117 transports the bag at a lower speed than section 113. As shown in Figure 1,
Belt 1 of the first and second conveyor sections 113, 117
16, 120 are arranged on corresponding rollers in two groups 130, 131, and the belts of each group cover the rows of bags 101, 10.
It is related to one of 2.

In order to maintain the belt of the first portion 113, e.g.
14 (FIG. 2) includes a pulley-like portion 132 which receives each belt 116 having a circular cross-section. The mouth roller 115 has the same form. roller 118,1
19 includes a similar pulley-like portion 133 (FIG. 6),
The one-piece pulley portion is the one-piece pulley portion 13 of the first portion.
2, so that the belt 120 passes over the rollers 115 with a required gap. As seen in FIG. 3, the gear 124 is smaller than the gear 123, and the drive for the cutting device drives the conveyor device 34 at a suitable speed to remove the bags disposed in each row 101, 102. are disposed on the shingle so that the leading edge or edge 134 of each bag overlaps the trailing edge 135 of the preceding bag (FIG. 5).

In order to obtain the above-mentioned shingle-like arrangement, the speed of the conveyor device 34 is suitably selected such that when the next bag is placed on the conveyor device, the previously placed bag is placed on the index wheel. is not completely removed from below.
One of the features of the present invention is that the bags in the rows 101 and 102 (FIG. 2) are placed such that their edges 136 and 137 formed by the cut transverse sealing portions have an overlapping relationship; The entire width of the two columns 101 and 102 is less than twice the entire width of one column.

By forming the rows of bags so that the edges of one row overlap the edges of the other row, the bags in the two rows will have their edges overlap and form the container or carton in which they are packaged. They are deposited one after another to fit the dimensions. two columns 101, 10
In order for the two to have an overlapping and shingled relationship, the edges of the bags in one row must always be on top of the bags in the other row. As shown in Figure 2,
The edges 137 of the bags in row 102 always overlap the edges of the bags in row 101, and this relationship is such that positive air pressure is applied to suction head 62a before air pressure is applied to suction head 62b. obtained by By applying pressure to suction head 62a before applying pressure to suction head 62b, bags being placed in row 101 are always placed on index wheel 3 before bags are placed in row 102.
Released or expelled from 6. Note that the conveyor device has guide plates 140, 141 to facilitate giving an overlapping relationship to the bags in the two rows 101, 102. To ensure that a shingle-like arrangement is obtained as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, a deflector plate 142 is further provided which extends laterally across the belt of the first conveyor section 113. It's starting to lengthen. An important feature of the invention is that a device, generally designated 150, is provided for reversing the direction of the shingled bags in the two rows 101, 102 so that the articles or bags are placed on the chute 35. Each bag overlaps the leading edge of the next bag as it is transported.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a device 150 for reversing the direction of shingle overlap includes upright members 110, 111.
A stand 151 is adjustably connected to the stand 151 and extends across and above the second portion 117 of the conveyor system 34. The stand 151 is the belt 1
A pair of engaging members 152 and 153 are supported on 20, member 152 is disposed directly above row 101 of items arranged like a roof board, and member 153 is disposed above row 102. has been done. Stand 151 is mounted by a pair of ports 155 extending through elongated slots 156, and belt 12
The height of the end of each member 152, 153 above 0 is adjusted so that the end of said member 152, 153 is a certain distance above the belt 120, i.e. the height of the bag in each row 101, 102, e.g. It is designed to reach a distance smaller than its width. When the bags 29 are placed on the conveyor device 34 by the indexing wheels 36, they are arranged in a shingled manner, with each bag substantially covering the surface of the conveyor belt 116, depending on the thickness of the bag. parallel to or slightly inclined to.

This relationship is represented by bag 160 in FIG. The engagement members 152 , 153 cooperate with the moving belts 116 , 120 of the conveyor device 34 to keep the bags arranged in a shingle manner as they are conveyed towards the reversing device 150 . Corresponding trailing edge or end 13
Rotate gradually around 5. The bag is the engagement member 15
2 or 153, said cooperative action gradually brings it into a position substantially perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor belt. Engagement member 152
, 153 and the belt of the conveyor device such that the engagement member engages the upright leading edge 162 of the adjacent bag 161 and further movement of said edge 162 in the direction of bag travel is prevented. This is due to the fact that At this time bag 16
The lower trailing edge 163 of 1 is still conveyed by the belt, as is the trailing edge of each bag. Therefore, as a bag approaches the reversing device 150, the movement of its leading edge in the direction of flow is progressively restrained. The trailing edge then continues its movement in the flow direction. In the reversing device 150, the upper edge 162 is restrained by the members 152, 153, and the lower edge 163 is restrained by the members 152, 153.
is conveyed under the upper edge 162 to become the leading edge.

As the lower edge 163 passes under member 152 or 153 and moves further toward the end of the conveyor belt, the upright edge 162 begins to move back towards the plane of the belt and over the adjacent bag 164. Begins to touch and sit. Thus, once the lower edge reaches the position represented by the bag 165, the upper edge can be released from the engagement member 152 and can subsequently move in the direction of flow of the bag. At the same time, the adjacent bag 164 is moved to the position of the bag 161. After passing through the reversing device, the end that was the previous leading edge, i.e. 1
34 becomes a trailing edge and overlaps the leading edge 135 of the next item. As shown, the upright position of the item passing through the reversing device becomes progressively lower as it moves toward the end of the conveyor system, resting on the bottom wall 166 of the chute 35. As mentioned above, the bags conveyed by the conveyor device 34 are transferred to the chute 3.
5 and then placed into a container, carton or box 167 (FIG. 5) which is telescopically received at the end of the chute.

To facilitate the transfer of bags from the conveyor device 34 to the chute 35, the bottom wall 166 has a protrusion or flap 1.
68 (FIG. 4), and the O hanging piece is attached to the belt group 130,1.
31 and a plurality of narrow protrusions 169 extending between the pulley portion 133. Chute 35 has a pair of upright side walls 170, 170, each having three sections 171, 172, 173. Said part τ
The portion has a shape forming a funnel from the transfer point from the conveyor device 34 to the chute 35. Upright wall 170
The downstream end of the portion 173 is connected to the end 17 of the chute bottom wall 166.
4 to an end 175. This end 175
serves as a stop that can engage the bottom wall of the carton, and when the carton 167 is inserted into the chute, the bottom wall 1
The end 174 of 66 is spaced from the bottom wall 167a of the carton. In order to maintain the distance between the bottom wall 166 and the side wall 167b of the carton 167, the end portion 17
4 is provided with a spacing device 176.

As shown, the device 176 is a portion of the bottom wall 166 and is curved downwardly and in the opposite direction of the wall 166. To make it easier to fit the carton 167 into the chute,
The side wall portion 173 is sloped so that its height gradually decreases.

As shown, the height of this portion 173 is from point 177 to end 1.
It gradually decreases as it approaches 75. As described above, the shingle orientation when the bag is placed on the first portion 113 is reversed by the reversing device 150 to a shingle orientation such that the bag is received by the tray. .

By reversing the shingle arrangement direction in this manner, the two rows 101 and 102 are stacked as two stacks, and the edge portions 136 and 137 of these two stacks have an overlapping relationship; container or carton 16
7 becomes easier to charge. A problem arises in that if the shingle orientation is not reversed, the items, especially at the base of the stack, will not be able to have the necessary relationship to form the stack. However, if the shingle orientation is reversed to the direction shown on the chute 35, the movement of the items entering the box will be substantially reduced to the carton 167.
The deposit is formed so as to be parallel to the bottom wall 167a. When the apparatus of the present invention is operated, an operator is positioned near the chute 35 and manually inserts a portion of the stack shingled onto the chute 35 into a container or carton 167. It is possible that In order to be able to load the required number of bags into each carton 167, the printing device 16 can print symbols on one bag at intervals of a predetermined number of bags. As shown in FIG. 5, the bag 180 is marked with symbols. The operator grasps a bag 180 in a particular row and an adjacent bag in another row and pulls all the bags between said bag 180 and the end of the chute 35 toward the carton 167 by hand. As a result, the required number of bags, for example 50, can be loaded into the carton 167. The number 50 is shown as an example of adding a symbol, and the interval is 80 or 10.
It should be noted that other intervals such as 0 are possible.

After all items prior to bag 180 have been transferred to carton 167, the box is removed from chute 35 and placed on the conveyor for further processing.

As shown in FIG. 1, a flat surface 181 is provided adjacent to the chute 35. By using a suitable vibrating device, said flat surface 181 becomes a vibrating table, allowing the items in the carton 167 to settle as desired. Remove carton 167 and empty carton 167
Within the time required to reinsert the bag into the chute 35, another group of bags is conveyed along the conveyor system to a position as shown in FIG. Upon noticing the other marked bags 180, the operator inserts a known number of other bags 29 into the newly placed empty carton 167. When starting up the machine 11, the bags arranged in the form of a shingle must be moved by hand in order to stand upright. This is accomplished by holding the bag 161 in close proximity to the reversing device until a flow condition as shown in FIG. 5 occurs. The apparatus 10 has a waste removal chute (not shown) located below the cutting wheel 37 and adjacent the indexing wheel 36 for removing waste material.

For example, when initially setting up the machine 11, an empty bag may occur, but the suction head 62 does not grip the empty bag. The cut empty bags will then fall onto the waste removal chute and be removed from the apparatus 10. If a malfunction occurs during operation of the machine 11 such that the filling station 26 does not fill the bags, the unfilled bags are conveyed by the suction head 62 to the conveyor device 34 and discarded. The object is removed by the object removal chute. As explained above, the present invention provides an indexing wheel having two groups of suction heads spaced apart around each other and gripping individual bags by means of a vacuum created in the heads, on a conveyor system and of the conveyor system. rotating in a circular path perpendicular to the direction of movement and releasing the vacuum of the first and second groups of suction heads, respectively, at different rotational positions of the wheel;
The side edges of the bags discharged from the second group of suction heads are overlapped with the side edges of the bags discharged from the first group of suction heads onto the conveyor device to form a row, and the bags are placed on the conveyor device. Two rows of bags are formed.

This configuration automatically shingles the bags onto the conveyor and allows the operator to easily and quickly push the positioned bags along the conveyor into the cartons mounted above. .

The use of the device of the invention therefore makes it possible to carry out the task of filling containers with items such as individually filled bags with minimal cost and speed. According to the present invention, bags can be packed into cartons by one worker approximately five times faster than the manual packaging process described above, and at only % of the cost when using an automatic machine.

The present invention can be modified in various ways within the scope of the claims.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a device according to the invention. FIG. 2 is a partially cut-away view, partially in section and partially cut away for clarity, taken along the line - of FIG. FIG. 3 is a cut-away view, partially shown in elevation 1, taken along the line - of FIG.
4 is an enlarged cutaway plan view taken along line - of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the conveyor system shown in FIG. 3; FIG. Figure 6 shows the line in Figure 3 -
This is a cutaway view taken along the FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of the index wheel taken along line - of FIG. In the figure, 10 is an apparatus of the present invention, 11 is a packaging machine, 12 is a horizontal foundation, 13 is a roll stand, 14 is a roll, 14a is a strip material, 15 is a mandrel, 16 is a printing device, 17 is a paper cutter, 18 is a bracket, 19 is a guide roller, 20 is a sealing machine, 20a is a vertical ridge, 21 is a floating roller, 22 is a fixed floating roller, 23 is a driving roller, 24 is a pressure roller, 25 is a floating roller, 26 is a filling point, 27
28 is a top sealing machine, 28 is a strip material, 29 is a bag, 29a is a position, 29b is a bag, 30 is a sealing part, 31 is a driving device, 3
2 is a bottom sealing machine, 33 is a cutting device, 34 is a conveyor device, 35 is a chute, 36 is an index wheel, 37 is a cutting wheel, 38 and 39 are frame members, 40 is a core, 41 is a drive shaft, and 42 is a key , 43 and 44 are bearings, 45 is a core,
46 is a blade, 47 is a drive shaft, 48 is a hanging piece, 49 is a spring clutch device, 50 is a spring, 51, 52 are bearings, 53, 5
4 is a gear, 55 is a chain, 60 is a blade, 61 is a guide member, 61
a is a recess, 62, 62a, 62b are suction heads, 63 is a flexible member, 63a is a pot-like part, ZU64 is a fitting, 65, 66 are holes, 67, 68 are passages, 70 is a side surface, 7
1 is a plate member, 72 is a tightening screw, 73 and 74 are passages, 75
is a surface, 77 is a shoe, 78 is a mounting plate, 79 is a plate, 80 is a bolt, 81 is a fastening member, 82 is a slot, 83 is a spring, 8
4 is a surface, 85 is a recess, 86 is a hole, 87 is a hose, 88 is a recess, 89 is a hole, 90 is a hose, 91 is a tension roller, 9
2 is a lever, 94 is a pressing strip, 95 is a support, 96
A spring device, 97 is a point, 98 is a position, 101, 102 are rows, 110, 111 are frame members, 113 is a first conveyor portion, 114, 115 are rollers, 116 is a belt, 117
is the second conveyor part, 118, 119 are rollers, 120
is a belt, 121 is a bearing, 122 is a gear box, 123,1
24, 127, 128 are sprockets, 130, 131
132 and 133 are the belt group, 132 and 133 are the pulley parts, 134
is a leading edge, 135 is a trailing edge, 136 and 137 are edges, 14
0, 141 is a guide plate, 142 is a deflection plate, 150 is a reversing device, 151 is a stand, 152, 153 is an engaging member, 1
55 is a bolt, 156 is a slot, 160, 161 is a bag, 1
62 is an upright leading edge, 163 is a downward following edge, 164, 16
5 is a bag, 166 is a bottom wall, 167 is a carton, 167a is a bottom wall, 167b is a side wall, 168 is a hanging piece, 169 is a protrusion,
170 is a side wall, 171, 172, 173 are wall portions, 17
4, 175 is an end, 176 is a spacing member, 177 is a point, 1
80 is a bag, and 181 is a flat surface.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An apparatus for placing bags in alignment, comprising: an indexing wheel having an outer periphery; a conveyor device disposed under the indexing wheel; rotating the indexing wheel in a circular path; means for moving a conveyor device at right angles to a circular path around the outer periphery of said indexing wheel; a first group of suction heads spaced circumferentially on said indexing wheel and carried in said circular path by said indexing wheel; a second group of suction heads spaced circumferentially on the index wheel between the first group of suction heads and carried in a circular path by the index wheel; in a path around the outer periphery of the index wheel; a device for successively moving bags into contact with said suction heads; gripping a bag on each suction head as said indexing wheels move said suction heads from a point of contact with the bags through an arcuate portion of a circular passageway; a device for applying a vacuum to each suction head of said first and second groups; a release device that applies a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure to each suction head, and before the release device applies pressure greater than atmospheric pressure, the first group of suction heads has a circular passageway shorter than the second group of suction heads; The bags conveyed by the indexing wheels through the arc and carried by the suction heads of the first group are first discharged onto the conveyor device to form a first row of bags and then the bags of the second group. at regular intervals such that the bags conveyed by the suction head are discharged onto the conveyor device to overlap the side edges of the bags with the side edges of the bags of the first row to form a second row of bags. and a release device arranged to apply pressure above atmospheric pressure first to the first group of suction heads and then to the second group of suction heads. device to put it on.